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Java Java Objects (Retired) Creating the MVP Current Progress

David Weimann
David Weimann
570 Points

Getting frustrated with the tests

Am i the only one who getting realy frustrated with the tests at the end of the chapters? Maybe its because english is not my nativ language (its german), or maybe i am not a quick learner, but i think that this course is going with too much speed for a beginner and the questions at the end are to difficult. But maybe thats just me.

6 Answers

Craig Dennis
STAFF
Craig Dennis
Treehouse Teacher

Hey David!

Can I help?

Practicing recall, getting access to information you've previously learned, is definitely frustrating, but what I find the best way to make information stick through teaching. If you're finding the recall challenges ( the ones that are not a basic copy of what we just did together in the video) that's kind of expected. The frustration is learning, and the satisfaction you get from solving it is in my opinion, the huge benefit of coding as a profession.

That said though, can I help? I can imagine that not speaking English natively on top of new language syntax is super hard. I went to a conference one time that was in Spanish and I think I still have a headache from trying to process things like polymorphismo ;)

Let me know if I can help on a specific challenge!

David Weimann
David Weimann
570 Points

Thanks for all the answers. You guys are amazing. I now ordered a book on this matter (in german!) so that i can recall all the subjects and make things more clear for me.

jason chan
jason chan
31,009 Points

https://teamtreehouse.com/tracks

Just choose a track and stick to it. I think you haphazardly jumping onto courses is bad idea.

For andriod it's java then andriod. For ruby its. Ruby then ruby on rails. For wordpress. It's wordpress, but php then wordpress then laravel. for apple it's objective c or swift to create an ios app. For web development html, css, php, javascript, and frameworks. For python it's python then django, flask, or whatever library.

Yes, you need a strong understanding of english. Actually, a strong command at least 5th grade level. The easiest track is web design.

The hardest classes here in my opinion is python. The java instructor here is very good. Do the javascript full stack it's easier language.

I also recommend buying a book on programming. Reading a book in programming your language so you have some understand of what instructor is saying and following videos both helps. Programming has so many ways to do things. It has nooks and crannies that I'm still learning. Don't give up and keep coding.

Funny how i'm asian and my native language is english.

David Weimann
David Weimann
570 Points

Hey Jason,

thanks for your answer. I guess my english is not that bad at all. I grasp the videos quiet well and understand what he is teaching, but the tasks at the end are confusing me. Also it is easy to get frustrated with syntax errors coming on top...but that seems the normal learning progress in computer languages. I've chosen Java cos i think that that will provide for me the biggest chances for jobs (once i've learned it...no matter how long it takes! I have time). But i will take your advice and buy some books on Java.

David Weimann
David Weimann
570 Points

Hey Craig,

thanks for your answer. It's true. Even tho i consider myself as a good english speaker, it can be confusing for my brain to process the new informations about an other language, over a language wich is not nativ for me. You are right, i guess, that the learning progress will be better if i have to challenge my brain more in a task, then getting every thing served on a silver plate (not sure if that is an english expression aswell). For some test i had to phone a friend of mine who had to explain me some stuff, so it came clear to me. So he told me that strings are already an objekt or...what i didn't get before and what confused me quiet a bit, when starting with objects ...that we suddenly had to classes...before i thought that it is a linear thing. i know that might sound like a silly issue to you guys...but for somebody completly new to this matter it was something i needed to understand. (got it tho) But there was something i realy didnt got. The test to strings and chars. I thought i got it during the video and it was all clear. but in the test the correct answer was: return mHand.indexOf(tile) > -1; (i only got it cos i cheated) ....but why the -1?

I've chosen this course and treehouse as a platform because i think it is simply awesome (i wish it would be a german website tho...but you cant have everything i guess) and for me it is the best way to learn since i can go in my own pace and studdy when ever there is time. And now experience that the support you guys do is amazing as well and i really appreciate that! Even tho it will be hard i will continue!

eric Crawford
eric Crawford
2,381 Points

Hey David,

You're not alone in your frustration. To me the videos make me feel like i should be moving right along, and "lets take a quick code challenge" is misleading. Now that the challenges are "recall", for me its more like once you have completed this challenge, then its safe to move forward. After spending more time than i wished to feel totally lost in all the sytax i stopped and spent a couple days recalling everything (program structure, data types, operators, relational operators, variable, variables modification, variable types, while loops, for loops, static methods, methods, classes and objects, constructors, and even a few things we havent really seen yet in this track).

I found an app that allows me to Learn Java skills, Tree House is pretty amazing, but im just finding it to be easier for me to retain by supplementing with the other sources as well. After Recalling all that we've gone over i still got stumped at the last code challenge, but like somebody told me recently "eventually it will just start to click".

One thing you want to pay close attention to is proper coding, there's more than one way of doing things, and everyone has their own. I dont want to end up learning sloppy code, but im TRUSTING Craig and Tree House to teach me the right way.

p.s. Practice in workspaces when we learn something new. I like to change things up a bit and see what does and doesnt work.

Craig Dennis
STAFF
Craig Dennis
Treehouse Teacher

Hi David!

If you take a look at this in the String.indexOf documentation, you will see that if the character is found it will return the index, or if not it will return -1. That's because arrays are 0 based, so the char could be the first entry and therefore it would be 0.

(Also, the saying translated to me at least, "you can't get everything delivered to you on a silver platter". And I agree wholeheartedly)

I appreciate your feedback! Thanks for speaking up!